The Veritas Real Estate Group, Inc.

Newspapers are starting to issue warnings to would-be renters about the possibilities of being scammed and losing a great deal of money. Florida is a prime tourist destination and the ocean is a lovely 85 degrees. Sounds warm but it is delightful.

We enjoy having tourists but you should verify the authenticity of the rental listing before you plop down money on a property that no one has seen, hop on a plane and arrive to find that you have nowhere to stay.

Craiglist ads are one of the favorite spots for scammers. They will copy a photo and listing information from another ad and substitute their own contact information. You send them a check or give them your credit card info for the deposit and then they've got you.

In this part of South Florida you can verify the owner's name at http://bcpa.net which is the Broward County property appraisers web site.

There are most likely similar county web sites searchable by the public in most areas of the country; an internet search for the area you are interested in should produce the link. The search criteria should be something like "Broward county property appraiser" and you substitute the name of the county that you plan to visit. If you only know the city name, then an internet search for the city and county should bring up some page that mentions the county. For example "Ft. Lauderdale county" in a Google search brought up multiple links and the subject on the first link stated that it was located in Broward County. Pretty cool.

Or you could shell out some money and use a Realtor who specializes in vacation rentals. That is what they are there for; to help protect you and to ensure that the property in question is available when you need it. We are not just pretty faces, folks. Believe it or not, we do actually earn our commissions and try very hard to make your purchasing or leasing experience a pleasant one.

So continue to search Craigslist but just use caution before you pay for anything.